Hector d'al Candless
Hector d'al Candless was the Duke of Wulfram, a Knight of the Red, a former officer of the Royal Marines, the Colonel of the Wolf's Head Cuirassiers, the Councillor-Militant, and the Lieutenant-general of the King's Army. Personality Wulfram is a conservative and a traditionalist, as shown by his choice of fashion, where he wears a powdered wig that is decades out of date. He is grim and serious - the only time the Dragoon Officer ever sees him smile is shortly before Blogia. He is a decisive and aggressive commander, but also impulsive and impatient, showing a distaste for bureaucratic work. Lastly, he is also an excellent judge of character, supposedly able to identify a person's weaknesses at a glance. Biography Early Life Lord Hector d'al Candless (born 542 OIE) was born to House Candless of Wulfram. Little was known about his early years. Duke of Wulfram Hector became Duke Wulfram in the year 575 OIE. Family Ties His son is married to the daughter of Johannes d'al Findlay, the Duke of Cunaris. Military Career King Alaric's War Hector began his carrer as an officer of the Royal Marines, distinguishing himself in King Alaric's War, and eventually reaching the rank of Major. The Callindrian Crisis Hector commanded the Tierran Embassy's escort to Callindria. Shortly before the Crisis, the Tierran Ambassdor requested much-needed reinforcements for the Tierran Embassy. When the Crisis finally did break out, the Embassy came under attack by Imperial Intelligence commandos. Somehow, Hector was able to hold them off. Leoniscourt's Garrison After the Crisis was over, Hector was reassigned to the Royal Marine garrison at Leoniscourt. Colonel of the Cuirassiers Hector became the Colonel of the Wolf's Head Cuirassiers in 575 OIE, at the same time he inherited the title Duke of Wulfram. Army Reform Wulfram was named Councillor-Militant in 593 OIE, by King Edmund IV, and immediately set himself to the task of reforming Tierra's army. His first decision was to move the Councillor-Militant's headquarters back to Grenadier Square. Working closely with the Baron of Hawthorne, they began a series of inspections which revealed most of the houseguard regiments to be either below standard or utterly corrupt. The bulk of his efforts were spent bringing these regiments back up to standard. Further reforms were planned, but they were interrupted by the outbreak of the Dozen Years War in 601. The Dozen Years War Wulfram objected to Miguel's plan to invade Antar. Although he agreed that an invasion was necessary, he believed the Tierran Army needed more time to prepare. Miguel disagreed, believing that the extra time would favour Antar more than it would favour Tierra. Even at the beginning of the war, a number of regiments were still considered unsuited for service, and it would not be until 604 that their battalions were finally deemed fit for overseas campaigning. Despite this, Wulfram did the best with what he had. He arrived in Antar in 602 to take command of the Tierran Expeditionary Force. In the autumn later that year, a force of 14,000 Antari was sent to retake Noringia. In response, Wulfram assembled a force of 6,000. The Antari were defeated after twelve days of battle, in which Wulfram focused on isolating and destroying individual columns. The Antari army was whittled down to 4,500 men, and surrendered soon after. Wulfram decided not to attack the city of Kharangia, and instead established Fort Kharan under the command of Major Enrique d'al Hunter to serve as the first line of defense on the western front. In 603, Wulfram defeated an army of 18,000, by forcing them to divide their army three ways, which he once again isolated and destroyed over the course of two weeks. In 604, Wulfram personally led a reconnaissance party into the Central Plains, burning sixteen villages and starting a famine which resulted in the deaths of 75,000 Antari serfs. In 606, Wulfram led another campaign into the Central Plains, but was repelled by the Oberlinder cavalry. Despite this setback, Wulfram immediately began planning his next battle, sending out scouts to find favourable ground to face the Antari on, while demanding that as many regiments as possible raise their second and third battalions to full strength and send them to Antar. At the same time, the majority of patrols and outposts were recalled back to Noringia, except for the ones along the Imperial Highway, which were reinforced. Wulfram promised King Miguel another decisive victory in 607, and in response the King issued an ultimatum: if Wulfram did not end the war by the end of that year, he would be dismissed from service. The Battle of Blogia When the Dragoon Officer reported that Prince Khorobirit was approaching Noringia with an army of over 30,000 men (confirming Royal Tierran Intelligence reports), Wulfram was overjoyed, as it meant he could finally put his plan into action. He chose to fight the Antari outside the town of Blogia. His plan was simple: he would place the entirety of his cavalry on the right flank, and lure the Antari cavalry into attacking his left flank, which was protected by the Duke of Havenport's Brigade and the Royal Dragoons at Castle Blogia. When the Antari had committed themselves to an attack, Wulfram would send all his cavalry forward and overwhelm the Antari army. It did not go as planned. There was a forest on the right flank, which Wulfram had assumed was impassable (he had no available scouts to confirm this.) This assumption proved to be incorrect, when Prince Khorobirit himself emerged from the woods with thousands of Church Hussars. Wulfram was forced to meet the Antari charge head-on, in order to buy Baron Tourbridge's Brigade enough time to form square. Wulfram was killed in the ensuing melee, leaving his army leaderless until the Duke of Havenport assumed command. Legacy The Battle of Blogia was the worst defeat in Tierran military history, making Wulfram something of a controversial figure. Before the battle, Wulfram had been regarded as Tierra's greatest general. Yet immediately after the battle, the public turned against him, believing he had been overly-reckless, and gone in without a plan. It would not be until the release of the Welles Report in 609 that most of these accusations were debunked. At the same time, Hector's death also led to his son Ewan becoming embittered toward the war, and might have been a contributing factor to the new Duke of Wulfram's decision to join the Peace Faction. The Wolf's Head Cuirassiers suffered as well. After losing their Colonel and the Regimental Colour, they were no longer regarded as the most prestigious cavalry regiment. Because Hector's son refused to bring them back up to full strength, they would not receive any chances for redemption, and as a result were supplanted by the Royal Dragoons and the White Rose Lancers. Some good did come out of it, however: Wulfram's failures taught the Tierran army several valuable lessons, which aided them in future engagements. Quotes * "The Grenadiers, I trust to stand. The Dragoons, I trust to patrol. But only the Highlanders, I trust to kill."